Business Partners
by You-Still-Owe-Me
Summary: The phrase had become a disguise. To the proprietors of Cincerity, it was just a joke. To the owners of Chez Chez, it was a façade to cover Brendan's loneliness, to cover Joel's shame. BrendanJoel, DougSte and Stendan. M for sex scenes and language.
1. Chapter 1

Business Partners

The phrase had become a disguise. To the proprietors of Cincerity, it was just a joke. To the owners of Chez Chez, it was a façade to cover Brendan's loneliness, to cover Joel's shame.

"You never let me do anything," Joel began, pacing around the bar, taking long angry strides. "How can I prove myself when you never let me do anything?"

Brendan gazed at the floor, mentally wishing Joel would calm down.

"Your time will come; relax." He murmured in a soothing tone, taking the opportunity for his hand to drift onto his shoulder – he could claim he was being comforting if an excuse was necessary. Under normal circumstances, Joel would shift uncomfortably under the touch of a fellow male in a non-violent context, but over the past few weeks, the awkward element had been dissolved by their growing friendship and mutual respect for each other. The trust issues, however, remained as rock solid as they were since the day they met. Joel moved in slightly closer till the two men were nearly touching and focused on Brendan's eyes.

"Why won't you let me? Why don't you trust me? I can do the job just as good as any one of your other little helpers.." he complained bitterly. Brendan closed his eyes just to escape Joel's moving glare. It was getting to him, drawing him in, making his mind and heart race with anticipation and bad ideas. He tried to clear his mind, he knew someone like Joel would try to play his loneliness up to his advantage.

There was silence between them.

"Oh, but Joel," Brendan allowed his hand to drift to the back of Joel's neck, pulling the two in closer. "You fail to notice that you're not like my other... helpers. I chose you for a reason."

"Oh yeah?" Joel retorted quietly, not attempting to end their physical closeness. "Why's that then?"

"I guess you could say... you're a good guy. I like you, Joel, I like you…" Brendan whispered, locking eyes with him, giving into both Joel and his own mind, and their lips soon followed course, feeling Joel loving every moment with every shred of guilt in his mind dissolving as the kiss went on and he wrapped his arms around Brendan's waist.

"You want me," Brendan whispered, breaking the kiss. "You want me bad."

"Judging from that, you want _me_ pretty bad yourself." Joel smirked, licking his lips. Goddamn, what was it about Brady that had captivated him? It took one hell of a guy to convince Joel not to be afraid of his apparent, dormant homosexuality, and to embrace it instead. He supposed Brendan was one hell of a guy.

"Maybe I do want you," he smirked. "So what if I do?"

"So what if I like you either?" Joel replied.

"I knew it…" Brady laughed, kissing him again. Somehow, the kisses felt so much more alive with Joel than they did with Ste, there was more passion, more desire, and certainly more lust – and none of it was corrupted by anger, like when he was with Ste.

He pinned Joel to the wall of the bar, stripping him of his trademark leather jacket and ripping off his shirt as he gripped Brendan's neck, totally engaged in the kiss, in everything that was to follow, his heart racing wildly. All his prejudices and fears and worries faded into the distance as he felt his jeans get a little tighter at Brendan's touch.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you…" he smirked, subtly shedding him of his belt and letting his right hand wander.

"Didn't think you were going to…" Joel smirked back. Brady's strokes, albeit gentle, were electric.

But both of them had one thing lingering in the back of their minds. It was just past closing time. Neither one of them mentioned it, but they knew they were both thinking about it. Someone could still walk in, Cheryl or Mitzee, or Warren or Mercedes or anyone… But another thought stood in front of that one – life's too short not to take opportunities like this, the opportunity to fuck your "business partner" in a public place.

Brendan managed to unzip Joel's jeans with his teeth before gently peeling off his boxers and letting his tongue do the work, feeling Joel's arousal. Just as he did so, there were light footsteps amidst the floorboards of Chez Chez. Neither one of the boys heard over the sound of Joel's panting and Brendan's dirty talking. Ste stood where he knew the two wouldn't be able to see them, watching with raw shock flowing through his veins. The two of them… he'd never have guessed that Joel would be up for that. He would never admit it, not even to himself, but in that moment, jealousy ran wild through his whole body, never before had he ever wanted to be someone else so much in his life.


	2. Chapter 2

Ste stumbled back to Cincerity in a daze. Inside, Doug was sat against a bare brick wall with his head tipped back – he was noticeably knackered from many days and nights of refurbishing the building. He jerked into a more upright position as Ste walked through the door.

"Ste! Any luck with Brady?" Doug asked.

"No… I just saw the weirdest thing." Ste replied, only a fraction of the shock he felt reflected in his voice. He slid down to sit beside Doug. Their thighs touched briefly as Ste got comfortable against the wall, but neither one of them minded.

"What was it?"

"Joel and… and Brendan. They were practically screwing in Chez Chez!"

"What? No, you're kidding… Did they see you?"

"No, I ran off before they saw…" Somehow, admitting he didn't approach Brendan even though he was clearly busy sounded vaguely cowardly.

"Are you alright?" Doug asked, knowing the history of the two of them.

There was silence before Ste murmured "I'm fine," before burying his head in his arms, hiding his face so he wouldn't give any jealousy or confusion away through his expressions. Doug took a large shaky breath inwards and put his arm around Ste.

"I guess I just didn't expect it from him… with _**Joel **_of all people. Well, at least now I know I'm…" he hesitated while he tried to find the right way to phrase it. "Out of the picture."

"Do you miss him?" Doug asked, daringly, hoping the question wouldn't drive Ste away.

"Yeah and no. It's like… when you're not with them, you're willing to have all the bad things about the relationship back just so you can have the good things as well."

"I know how you feel… But he's Brendan Brady! Does he_ look_ like a man who's likely to have attachment issues?"

"No, but-" Ste tried to interrupt.

"Deep down, he probably misses you too, but I suppose he does have needs. I doubt his little Joel thing is a romantic deal. More Brady's right wrist is broken and Joel's the only guy around…" Doug muttered, trying to be comforting, but little shreds of abhorrence slipping through the cracks.

"Oh well, I guess I should get over it and stop boring you, it's not like you care." Ste chuckled, gently jabbing Doug in the ribs with his elbow.

"I do care…" Doug protested quietly.

"Yeah, course, mate. We're business partners, not BFFs." Ste cooed in mocking tones.

Deep breath, Doug, deep breath. "I wouldn't want to see someone I love get hurt." He whispered, half hoping that Ste hadn't heard and that they'd just close up for the night and go their separate ways, the other half hoping that Ste had heard and he'd sweep him off his feet and carry him off into the sunset.

Ste took his head out from the comforting embrace of his arms so he could look into Doug's eyes and make sure this wasn't some sort of lucid dream. He smiled. "… As mates, yeah?"

Doug swallowed and retracted his arm from Ste's shoulder awkwardly.

"Of course?" he laughed, his cheeks tinted rose from the mortification. He felt his soul cringing; writhing and crippling within him, just south of his respiratory organs. Ouch.

Back at Chez Chez, Brendan was grinning like a Cheshire cat as he watched Joel slipping his clothes back on. "This didn't happen." Joel muttered in his heavy Scottish accent.

"Course not," Brendan replied. "Your secret's safe with me."

Joel turned around and gripped him by his open shirt collar. "You tell no one."

Brendan just shrugged his grasp off and laughed to himself, straightening out his shirt. He was surprised at how easily he could shake Joel off.

"What?" Joel asked aggressively, concerned that Brendan's laugh may be insulting his honour.

"You remind me of me. Little Joel in denial, Mr. Tough guy, owning half of a club and being a DJ, getting in fights with your little tight leather jacket."

"What's wrong with that? You turned out alright." The defensiveness in Joel's voice was sickeningly strong.

"Yeah, but who says you'll turn out anything as fabulous as me?" Brendan laughed menacingly again, glancing at himself in the mirror and adjusting his hair so he looked up to the usual Brady standard.

"I think I'm on the right track, myself." Joel smirked.

"But you need to stop being in denial, sunshine," Brendan walked up to Joel, fixing his eyes on his. "Besides, you were born that way." He sniggered, before walking past Joel and into the night.


	3. Chapter 3

Doug had hoped that a good night's sleep would ease the sudden realization of his inhibitions with Ste; ease the embarrassment of rejection, the throbbing internal pain that still remained in his soul from yesterday's archipelago of unrequited love and the confounding bed of turmoil that was his feelings. His expectations were miscalculated. His lay in his half-empty twin-size bed while sunlight filtered through the nearby window. All was quiet but the beating of his heart, harder and deeper than any bass line, reminding him that he was alive and that he should really face Ste with his feelings, the undeniable love he felt. But was it really love? Would he still love Ste if he knew Ste wasn't gay? And what was it, anyway, about someone that could just alter your sexuality? Up until the whole Cincerity thing, he had no doubts as to the matter – more Adam and Eve than Adam and Steve. But the way things were moving at the moment, he mused, we'll end up as more than business partners. His thoughts just seemed to merge into one blur of love and fear and excitement, arousal and depression and every other emotion on the spectrum of romance. So, he did the only logical thing – he resolved, right then, to himself, that the next time he saw Ste he'd tell him how he really felt. No compromises, no pretending that his feelings were purely platonic out of fear of humiliation and shame. He would tell Ste the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Or, at least that's what he thought now.

A while away, Ste was walking down to Cincerity, his mind a tangle of various thoughts. Part of him was seriously wondering whether they would ever have Cincerity up and running while the other part was thinking about what he saw yesterday when he happened to walk in on Joel and Brendan having some quality bonding time. But in the back of his mind, he was thinking about Doug, Doug and what he said yesterday. "I wouldn't want to see someone I love get hurt." The words echoed relentlessly in his head until they were broken down into syllables, until the edges of those syllables frayed and split and diluted into nothing. He had said that he meant it platonically, and for the most part, Ste believed him, but there was that lingering thought that misted his judgment. Was it the pause before he said it, or was it the deep breaths he took? Somehow, he just had the nagging suspicion that there was something more to his words. He slowed as he approached the foundations of what would one day be a deli, getting out his phone and quickly typing out "where are you? not like you to be late for work ;) x" and hesitating for a few minutes before sending it to Doug. He spent what could be deemed an unhealthy amount of time speculating as to whether he should include the solitary 'x' or not – he didn't usually, so would it seem as if he picked up on Doug's not-so-platonic vibes of yesterday? He didn't even know anymore. He hated the whirlwind of heavy overthought that came with a comment like Doug's, and in that moment, waiting outside Cincerity for his business partner, he resolved to ask Doug what he meant by it. There was just this hinge of a feeling in the back of his mind that kept picking at the loose threads of the situation, deducing what Doug really meant – and it kept telling to him, clear as ever, that he meant it as more than friends.

"Sorry I'm late!" Doug called, running up to Ste. There was a pause before Ste looked up and smiled, hands in pockets.

"No biggie." He said, unlocking the door and slipping on some once-white, now-grey overalls that were flecked and speckled with rich purple paint. "Hey, I was just wondering…" Doug looked up from where he was also donning the same type of overalls. "Can I talk to you about something?"

"Yeah, fire away." Doug smiled, heart beginning to beat faster at the proposition of a serious conversation. "Can I talk to you…?" was just baby-steps from "We need to talk", just less sinister, less serious.

"Not now, of course, we've got too much to do. It's nothing bad, but can we go for lunch or something?"

"Y-yeah, if that's what you'd like," he replied. There was a noticeable quake in his voice. "Then sure."

"Great." Ste said, flashing him a smile then turning away from him and trying to repress the rush of anticipation that had just flooded his veins.

"I guess I have some thing to say to you too…" Doug laughed nervously.

"We'll talk at lunch." Ste smiled weakly.

The morning went painfully slowly.


End file.
